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IVet to get $20,018
in VA hospital fire
A Vietnam veteran who awoke to
find himself on fire while strapped to
a bed at Veterans Administration
Medical Center has been awarded
$20,018 in damages.
Damages were paid by the federal
government in a compromise settle-ment.
The settlement was signed
Monday by U.S. District Judge
Edwin F. Hunter Jr. in Lake
Charles.
Elgie Spivey was admitted to the
Shreveport hospital's psychiatric
unit on April 28, 1977. On May 2 he
"remembers waking up or coming
out of a mental blankness on fire,"
Spivey revealed in court documents.
While hospital officials admitted
Spivey was burned in a bed fire, they
did not know how the fire could have
started. A burned match was found
by the hospital bed.
In his suit, Spivey maintained that
hospital personnel should have
ensured that he had no matches in
his possession when he was confined •
to the bed.
Hospital officials said Spivey was
suffering severe emotional and men-tal
stress when he was admitted.
Spivey had been qualified as 100.
percent disabled after suffering a
gunshot wound to the head in Viet-nam.
While thrashing around, Spivey
reportedly knocked down a male
nurse's assistant. The veteran was
heavily sedated and full bed re-straints
placed on him, court docu-ments
said.
When Spivey awoke, the fire had
burned his stomach, hand, throat
and mouth. He claimed the injuries
were extensive first- to third-degree
burns. Hospital officials listed the
injuries as superficial primary and
secondary burns.

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Text

IVet to get $20,018
in VA hospital fire
A Vietnam veteran who awoke to
find himself on fire while strapped to
a bed at Veterans Administration
Medical Center has been awarded
$20,018 in damages.
Damages were paid by the federal
government in a compromise settle-ment.
The settlement was signed
Monday by U.S. District Judge
Edwin F. Hunter Jr. in Lake
Charles.
Elgie Spivey was admitted to the
Shreveport hospital's psychiatric
unit on April 28, 1977. On May 2 he
"remembers waking up or coming
out of a mental blankness on fire,"
Spivey revealed in court documents.
While hospital officials admitted
Spivey was burned in a bed fire, they
did not know how the fire could have
started. A burned match was found
by the hospital bed.
In his suit, Spivey maintained that
hospital personnel should have
ensured that he had no matches in
his possession when he was confined •
to the bed.
Hospital officials said Spivey was
suffering severe emotional and men-tal
stress when he was admitted.
Spivey had been qualified as 100.
percent disabled after suffering a
gunshot wound to the head in Viet-nam.
While thrashing around, Spivey
reportedly knocked down a male
nurse's assistant. The veteran was
heavily sedated and full bed re-straints
placed on him, court docu-ments
said.
When Spivey awoke, the fire had
burned his stomach, hand, throat
and mouth. He claimed the injuries
were extensive first- to third-degree
burns. Hospital officials listed the
injuries as superficial primary and
secondary burns.